One of the main parliamentary oversight mechanisms is the power to disallow laws made by the executive branch of the government, including ministers and senior departmental and agency officials, known as delegated legislation or delegated legislative instruments. This report recommends the removal of all provisions...

Bill Browne argues in this discussion paper that a straightforward way to ensure the Northern Territory has two House of Representatives seats is to increase the overall size of the House. He suggests that an increase of about 50% in the number of parliamentarians would...

This paper provides an overview of the 2019 federal election, including the results, the political environment, and the major features of the campaign.

Australia is the only democracy facing coronavirus that has suspended Parliament.

The Auditor-General, Grant Hehir, delivered this presentation to the 15th Biennial Australasian Council of Public Accounts Committees (ACPAC) Conference held at Parliament House, Canberra, on 7 November 2019. The presentation was titled Maintaining Trust in the Parliamentary Process — PACs and Officers of the Parliament.

This paper looks at which states or territories may have their electoral boundaries redistributed during the course of this Parliament—the new boundaries and any change in the number of divisions then applying at the next election. The actual redistribution process (or the redrawing of boundaries)...

The Parliamentary Library Briefing Book provides short analyses of issues that may be considered over the course of this Parliament. Each article gives a high-level perspective of significant public policy issues, covering background, context and legislative history, as well as some of the policy and...

This quick guide contains the most recent tables showing the composition of Australian parliaments by party and gender (see Tables 1 and 2). It takes into account changes to the Commonwealth and state/territory parliaments since the last published update on 15 January 2019.

The Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances (the committee) has scrutinised legislation to guard against the inappropriate exercise of executive power for almost ninety years. This report makes a number of recommendations to improve the committee's existing scrutiny practices.

Rodney Tiffen outlines Inside Story’s guide to seventy years of parties, polling and politics.